11 Skills Startup Employees Should Learn This Year

What’s one skill all startup employees should learn in order to achieve entrepreneurial success in 2015?

The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

1. Being Adaptable

“In the startup world you have to always be ready for change as an employee. One of the biggest advantages startups have over large companies is their ability to quickly make changes, and as an employee you have to be able to adapt just as quickly.”

2. Being Resourceful

“Startups are inherently resource constrained, so the more an employee can “help themselves,” the more valuable they will be. They can achieve this by being resourceful and finding answers to problems efficiently. This also provides more autonomy and the ability to make a significant impact in a growing company. It’s a win-win!”

3. Understanding Self-Discipline

“High self-discipline is essential for entrepreneurs because there is no one looking over their shoulders insisting they buckle down and invest enormous time, energy, focus and resources into their businesses. Because no one cares about the startup as much as the founder, the entrepreneur must be able to draw on an inner drive to make things happen.”

4. Trusting Your Gut

“As a startup, you’ll never have all of the right answers. And that’s okay. As long as you trust your gut and do what feels like the right thing, the lessons and rewards you will learn will be infinitely greater.”

5. Rolling With the Punches

“A startup goes through endless ups and downs. Learn to anticipate sudden changes, bounce back quickly and adjust to new circumstances. At the end of the day, as long as you keep healthy and put things into perspective, you can always come back.”

6. Being Proactive

“We have 13 people on our team, many of whom want to be challenged and do more than their core job. We’re lucky because, frankly, every startup needs a team of folks who are that passionate. But I don’t have time to uncover everyone’s interests. My dream is for everyone to be proactive: “Hey team, I saw this need and I drafted a solution.” The company will improve and your efforts will be appreciated.”

7. Troubleshooting First

“People should troubleshoot first. Instead of only chiming in when there’s a “problem” at work, do some diligence so you can also suggest a potential solution. That self-directed leadership will leave an impression on all those around you and ensure your success.”

8. Being Responsive

9. Being Persistent

“Persistence is the number one most important thing in startups. All companies that fail do so because they give up. Startups always face many challenges, the only way to overcome them is to be persistent.”

10. Knowing What to Work On

11. Asking for Money

“Every entrepreneur should learn how to ask a client for money. It forces you to focus on what really matters in your business, and that’s delivering value to your customers and getting them to pay you. If you have the ability to get clients to write checks, then you will be able to survive long enough to build a business around your product, or discover the next successful one.”

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The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.